When the first verdict was announced in the Rodney King case out in Simi Valley, the old man wandered the streets of New York with the Umbrella for two days straight. From East Flatbush, out through Bed-Stuy, back across the Queensborough Bridge and up to Harlem, then into the Bronx, always with his umbrella up, despite mild spring sunlight and cautious, curious stares. His feet were blistered and his arm muscles twitched in exhausted agony. But there were no riots in New York.

"There are some shadows that are only developed in darkness," the boy said to his parents. Alonso exchanged a smile with Mimi that the boy did not catch. He surprised them like this so often that it was no longer, well, a surprise. João was preternaturally intelligent for a ten-year-old, and Alonso was sure it was the Umbrella's doing...

I thoroughly enjoyed Mcdaid’s vision of the world and I look forward to reading more of his work.

Here are some of the sketches I sent to the editor Gordon Van Gelder after reading the manuscript. Gordon is a blast to work with and his instincts are always spot on.

During Thanksgiving weekend, I’m going to put my sketches for Magic The Gathering up for sale. If anyone has a card sketch they would like to own, drop me a line. The prices will be very reasonable. I’ll also add some Innistrad prints and the white backed Promo cards I received from Wizards of The Coast for sale as well.

I’m in the process of completing almost 75 paintings for an awesome project that will be unveiled sometime this year. I think I have been doing my best work on this assignment and I can’t wait to show everyone what I have been working on.

Until then, here is the genesis of Trade War. This was done a few years back for a game called Mythic Palace from Breakaway Games.

I received this thumbnail sketch from the Art Director. When I receive a thumbnail sketch, I always ask myself “What is it trying to say?”

These small (credit card size or so) tonal and compositional sketches are used to try out design or subject ideas. As always with thumbnails, it’s hard to translate the energy and emotion in a thumbnail into a finished image. In a thumbnail, you go for the broad gesture with tacit regard to anatomy. Some artists use this phase to graphically design the piece. They can spot blacks, cast shadows, even add in little background details. This one was pretty good. It was loose enough for me to see the action without tying me down with too much detail.

Here is what I came up with.

I kept the broad placement of the figures and changed the pose of the figure on the left. The pose was a bit to cartoony for my realistic art style. Even though I think I sacrificed some of the energy in the thumbnail because of that decision, I think I made the right call.

The finish was done in Corel Painter.

I have a couple more Mythic Palace paintings. I’ll post them over the next few days.

I have heard fantastic things about the new HBO series based on George R. R. Martin novel A Game of Thrones. As someone who is intimately familiar with the A Song of Ice and Fire series of epic novels, the cast and production values seem spot on.